So often on the peaks in late summer there are flower gardens in bloom, more than any other time or place. I think it’s the short summer up there that concentrates the flowers in place and time. I love seeing them!

Pearly Everlasting is a very good flower to use in dried flower arrangements. It smells nice and when dried, lasts for a long time. It’s one of the last of the flowers here for the insects to feed upon in the fall.

THey are amazingly hardy, Anna! I’ve seen them blooming in the very hot late summer sun and with frost on them the net day, followed by a few inches of snow. A week alter, they look like they just started to bloom. I have so much admiration for all of the plants: they are incredible!

Some of the smoke here has cleared today as a soft west wind came in. Some places even had a bit of rain. It all helps. I’ve been waiting for a clear cold day to make a rather difficult but (I’ve heard), beautiful one.

Beautiful pictures as usual. I am about 2 hours from our major forest fire, the one devouring our Boundary Waters protected area … but, the smoke can not be seen and rarely smelt here … other areas to the east are suffering from that.

We have been lucky in this little valley this summer in that we haven’t had a lot of heavy smoke. In the Missoula valley and south from there through the Bitterroot valley there has been heavy smoke and some inversion layers that kept it in the valleys. That can be miserable!

Thanks for the shrubby penstemon photo, montuck. I missed them this year, not having time for alpine hiking. Yes the smoke has been wretched in the Missoula Valley, and we can’t even escape it by going to the lake, as it’s been far worse up at Georgetown Lake from the 41 Complex fire.

Terry, I wish you had a ‘Like’ button here because often I look at your photos and don’t know what to say in a comment other than ‘I Like’. Except it would be better to have a ‘Love’ button and an ‘Appreciate’ button… and I don’t suppose there’d be room for all those.